Food And Talk Served Here

Spinach Chickpea Soup

It was raining outside and very nice and cool inside the house. The sweet smell of rain, a mood to cook something different, to see my loved ones enjoying their food, the satisfaction coming from that… all that inspired me to cook this wonderful soup.

Or you can say that a bunch of spinach leaves about to wilt, chickpeas frozen to death, potatoes dying for attention and immense laziness to cook up a whole dinner led me to whip this up.

Whatever be the reason to cook, this garlic flavored soup tasted wonderful. With potatoes and chickpeas in it, you can have them as the main meal itself (there by saving yourself the trouble of cooking anything more).

Warm toasted bread, a bowl of hot soup, great company, candle light dinner and rain outside. Cannot ask for more in life! (hmmm…may be for the power to come back soon!)

Ingredients:

Onion : 1, chopped

Garlic : 4 cloves, chopped

Spinach : 1 bunch, cleaned and chopped

Chana/Chick pea : 400 gms, cooked

Potatoes : 3 big, cooked and chopped

Fennel Powder : 1 tsp

Coriander Powder : 1 tsp

Milk : 2/3 cup (or Cream)

Corn Flour : 1 tbsp

Stock : 4 cups

Tahini paste : 1 tbsp

Olive oil : 1 tbsp

Salt and Pepper

Method:

Heat oil in a pan, add the onions and garlic. When the onion turns brown, add the cumin or fennel powder and coriander powder. Cook for 2 minutes and add the spinach.

When the spinach is slightly done, add 3 cups of water or vegetable stock. I used Maggi stock cubes for this.

Add the cooked potatoes and chickpea now. Let everything come to a boil.

In a separate bowl, add the cornflour, tahini paste(if using), milk, salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly so that there aren’t any dry lumps of corn flour.

Add this to the soup and let it all come to a boil. Cook for another 5 minutes, check and adjust seasonings according to your taste. Take off the heat and serve hot.

Note:

I have adapted this from Linda Fraser’s book : The Vegetarian Kitchen.

Your soup sounds wonderful! I love the combination of ingredients – so flavorful and hearty. My grandmother passed away earlier in the year, but while she was alive every time I had something that most people would consider bad happen to me, I would think How can I make G.G. laugh when I tell her this story. Once I blew out a tire by running over a pitch fork on a highway and after I safely pulled off the road the first thing I thought was “GG is going to love this story”. Your post reminded me of how I enjoyed “reframing” the events of my day to make her smile. You have a gift! Thank you for entertaining us with your delicious meal and for sharing your delightful posts with the Hearth and Soul Hop.